


December 21: rumors of redemption

by dizzy



Series: farewell and gtfo 2016 daily fic advent [21]
Category: Glee RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 01:56:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8949103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: prompt: cc; Chris and Darren meet when filming a small independent queer film. Sparks fly.





	

Darren hasn’t had a job in six months when he gets the script sent his way. 

His agent passes it onto him. It’s not love at first read. Darren thinks it’s a little weak. He can’t understand why his character makes a few of the decisions he makes. He doesn’t mind stripped down for the sake of the art, but he’s not really sure why nude skinny dipping on the English countryside is really pivotal or anyone’s character development. But it’s got a solid cast of notable secondaries, people who spare the time because they’re only needed for a few key scenes. 

His co-lead is fresh off a hit tv show, a hot enough name to do Darren some good to be linked to. Darren looks him up on IMDB, then looks him up on youtube. He loses two hours watching clip after clip of overacted high school melodrama pleasantly offset by actual decent musical numbers.

His manager thinks he shouldn’t risk his small but dedicated female fanbase by doing a gay role. Darren thinks his manager is a prick but he’s too eager to please to say it, so he just points out how much women seem to like two dudes kissing. 

He takes the offer to read, and when he gets offered the role he takes that, too. He needs the work, he needs the money, and maybe he just needs to get away for a while. 

*

He packs his bags the first week of December and knows he won’t be back in the states until after Christmas. It’s a six week shoot on a shoestring budget. They’re putting him up in a flat with three of his co-stars, which sounds pretty good to Darren. He wouldn’t be able to handle a hotel room and all that solitude without cracking. 

*

His co-stars are all nice. 

The girl who plays his co-lead’s best friend tries to hit on him in under an hour. He’s actually thinking about it, right up until the moment Chris Colfer walks in the door. 

He’s fucked from the very start, really. From the moment he lays eyes on Chris, windswept and dragging a suitcase behind him, he’s truly fucked. 

Because the problem is, Chris isn’t just ATTRACTIVE. He’s attractive and smart and funny and has just enough of an ego to be hot. He’s cutting without being abrasive, takes no shit from anyone but rebukes with a smile and a sense of gentleness that Darren is deeply envious of. 

He’s a force of nature and he probably should be doing better things than filming a shitty independent film for next to no money, but Darren’s aware of how much of a total crapshoot the whole co-star business can be. He’ll count his blessings where they come, because Chris is a decent guy and they get along well. 

The chemistry between them is immediate. Within the first week of filming, they’ve learned how to wield it. They draw boundaries and then dance around them under the guise of filming and running lines. They sit too close and linger with touches and it’s heady, exhilarating, which happens to perfectly bleed over into what they shoot. 

*

It’s two weeks until Christmas in England and Darren can’t escape the gloom. 

He misses his family, his brother’s kids wreaking havoc, the way it’s never really all that cold in San Francisco. 

“I like it,” Chris says. 

They’re in a trailer on set, waiting for the drizzle to clear so they can get some more filming done. 

“Yeah, it kinda like… fits you,” Darren says. “I can see it.” 

“Fits me?” Chris sounds amused, and a little pleased. 

“You look like you need a cup of hot cocoa with whipped cream piled on it,” Darren says. He leans forward, revved by the keen interest in Chris’s eye, and keeps going. “And maybe a scarf. You’re a scarf kind of guy.” 

“I like scarves.” Chris 

“I’ll buy you a scarf for Christmas.” Darren says, and he wants to, suddenly. He wants to offer things up to Chris just to win that approving smile again and again. 

He’s infatuated, and he knows it, but he can’t bring himself to care. 

*

Chris and Darren are the only imports in the cast. The others they share the flat with go home for the two day break in filming, only a train ride from wherever they most want to be. 

Chris and Darren are left alone, to their own devices. They go out for a nice dinner on Christmas Eve and to the shops to stock food to last them until things open again on Boxing Day. 

Chris seems as lively as Darren’s ever seen him. “You don’t miss your family?” Darren asks. “I’m fucking bummed I’m not with my folks this year. This is the first Christmas we’ve spent apart.” 

“I like it here,” Chris says. “This is mostly why I took the job. Because I love England, and it was an excuse to live here during winter.” 

“No one waiting for you back home?” Darren asks. 

He’s trying to be casual. Chris’s smile says he fails, but it also says Chris doesn’t really mind. 

They’ve only got a couple weeks left. Moments alone are not a guarantee. 

“No,” Chris says softly. 

They have sex for the first time that night, and also the second and the third. When morning comes Darren makes pancakes and Chris fries up some sausages. It’s like no Christmas morning Darren has before, but he doesn’t find himself minding nearly as much as he thought he would. 

*

They try to be discreet, but it takes barely two days for everyone to know. 

Another two days after that and they let discretion fall to the wayside in favor of spending every break together and one bed going unslept in every night. 

It’s a fling, Darren tells himself, like every fling before. When it’s over he’ll leave and his manager will hate him for the rumors and he’ll hate himself for not taking the scolding and the world will keep on spinning just like it has for years now. 

(Or maybe, that little voice in the back of his mind says, it won’t - because Chris is something new to his world altogether.)

*

They lay naked in bed. Chris has his arms crossed behind his head and Darren’s tracing random patterns over his chest and his stomach. They’ll call it in between rounds unless one of them falls asleep and then they’ll just call it a night well spent. 

Their last night - but very well spent. 

“I’ve got baggage,” Darren says. “So fucking much.” 

Chris is smiling at him sleepily. “Yeah?” 

“I’m not out, and I have no fucking idea when I will be.” Darren’s stomach tightens just thinking about it. “It’s a mess. I’m a mess.” 

“We all are.” Chris reaches out and cups Darren’s cheek. “Honestly. Everyone is.” 

“Yeah, but.” Darren closes his eyes. This is so hard. It’s a free fall with no guarantee of a parachute to soften the landing. “I like you. Shit, I like you so much. But I’ve never dated a guy. Not even in college. It was always just like, random flings.” 

“Just say it,” Chris says softly. His voice is hard to read. “Just ask.” 

“I want to see you. When this is over.” 

“We’ll see each other,” Chris says. “For the release, whenever that happens.” 

“You know what I mean.” Darren opens his eyes again. “Don’t you?” 

“I do,” Chris admits. “I just want you to say it. If you can say it to me, that’s a start.” 

Darren opens his mouth. No sound comes out. His hand stops moving, lays flat on Chris’s chest. “Don’t make me.” 

Chris sighs, and looks away. “We can see each other, in LA. If you want. We can just - see where it goes.” 

“Yeah?” Darren asks, hopeful. 

“I’m not going to promise you anything until you can say it to me,” Chris says. “And I’m not going in the closet for anyone. But I like you too, you know. I don’t want this to end when we go home.” 

Darren leans in and kisses Chris, again and again, until Chris is laughing and pushing at him. 

*

The movie comes out late in October the next year. 

They both receive the details through their agents, then later an official invitation as a formality. 

“Do you want to…” Darren clears his throat. “I mean, we could… go. You know. Together.” 

“Can you say it?” Chris asks, teasing slightly. They’re in his house, having a casual dinner after which Darren will probably not leave, because that’s how it mostly happens these days. 

It’s going well - better than either of them would have expected. 

Darren grabs Chris’s hands and with a dramatic flair says, “I want to show you off as my gorgeous date on this red carpet, will you please do me the honor of officially accompanying me?” 

Chris grins at him. “All you had to do was ask.”


End file.
